No Payment, No Problem: In Rosy World of Forbearance, Official Delinquencies Plunge, Credit Scores of Delinquent Borrowers Jump by Wolf Richter • Nov 18, 2020 • 141 Comments Credit-score algos got fooled by forbearance. Weirdest economy ever where no one knows what’s going on anymore.
Stimulus Fatigue? Retail Sales Wane at Many Brick & Mortar Stores. Department Stores Progress to Zombiehood. But Online Sales Surge to Record by Wolf Richter • Nov 17, 2020 • 121 Comments My 13 whiplash-charts by retailer category.
Volkswagen to Throw $86 Billion at EVs over 5 Years. GM, Ford, Others Plow Mega-Bucks into Shift to EVs. Tesla Instigated It by Wolf Richter • Nov 13, 2020 • 298 Comments Commercial trucks and vans too, including at Volkswagen’s Traton, one of the largest truck makers in the world, acquirer of Navistar.
Wild Ride for Used Cars & Trucks in Weirdest Economy Ever by Wolf Richter • Nov 13, 2020 • 65 Comments After Crazy Price Spikes over the Summer, Wholesale & Retail Prices Drop, amid Lower Sales and Plenty of Supply.
Jingle Mail Haunts Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities as Property Values Get Slashed Below Loan Amounts by Wolf Richter • Oct 26, 2020 • 125 Comments At the time of securitization into CMBS a few years ago, inflated collateral values led to soothingly low loan-to-value ratios. Then trouble hit.
How Fast Can a “Shortage” of Office Space Turn into a “Glut?” San Francisco Shows How Fast by Wolf Richter • Oct 25, 2020 • 104 Comments Commercial real estate is in turmoil, but San Francisco’s glut is dwarfed by the fiascos in Houston and Calgary.
Housing Market Goes Nuts, Everyone Sees it, But it Can’t Last by Wolf Richter • Oct 23, 2020 • 307 Comments There’s a housing shortage until there’s suddenly a housing glut: see San Francisco et al.
“Creative Destruction” or Just “Destruction?” by Wolf Richter • Oct 21, 2020 • 119 Comments Under the effects of the Pandemic, consumers and businesses grapple with their own “Reset.”
Two San Francisco Hiltons Add to Woes of Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities. Special Servicing Rate of Hotel CMBS Spiked to 26% by Wolf Richter • Oct 12, 2020 • 84 Comments Four of the six hotels that REIT Park Hotels & Resorts owns in San Francisco are closed, with convention & business travel at near-zero.
Status of the Social Security Trust Fund, Fiscal 2020: Beware of Vicious Dog by Wolf Richter • Oct 10, 2020 • 248 Comments Will Social Security Be There for You? Yes, but…
